Holy See and Honduras Seal Pact Guarding Church Freedom
The 25-article accord secures the Church's legal personality, the inviolable confessional seal, and pastoral access across Honduran institutions.
On October 22, 2026, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Honduran President Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah signed the Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Honduras in the Treaty Hall of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican. The 25-article pact consolidates bilateral relations, safeguards the legal personality of the Catholic Church in Honduras, and promotes cooperation between Church and State in advancing the common good and the spiritual, human, and cultural values of the Honduran people.
The agreement guarantees religious freedom in line with the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Dignitatis Humanae and with international human rights instruments. It affirms the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. The State recognizes the Church’s right to operate according to its own rules, to govern itself, and to freely appoint its ministers of religion. The text also upholds conscientious objection, the inviolability of the sacramental seal without conditions or limitations, and equivalent confidentiality for pastoral workers.
Pastoral Mission Secured Across Institutions
Under the accord, the Church may establish educational and charitable institutions and provide spiritual assistance and pastoral care in social care, educational, healthcare, and penitentiary institutions, whether public or private. Facilitated pastoral care is likewise assured for members of the armed forces and the police.
The agreement enters into force upon the exchange of instruments of ratification, once each party has completed its respective legal procedures.
After the signing, participants held cordial discussions on the Church’s positive contributions to Honduras’s human, social, and cultural development, as well as topics of mutual regional and international interest. Representing the Holy See were Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations; Monsignor Javier Domingo Fernández González, Chief of Protocol; and Monsignors Carlos Díaz Paniagua and Francisco Javier Díaz Tenza. The Honduran delegation included Mireya Agüero de Corrales, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Juan Carlos García Medina, Minister of the Presidency; and Ambassador Gilliam Noemí Gómez Guifarro.
President Asfura was in Italy on an official visit that also included meetings with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and officials of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.